Method And Apparatus For Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

A method and apparatus is disclosed for manufacturing a composite material object from composite material tapes. The apparatus includes a tape delivery unit storing and providing a plurality of fabric tape material spools, compaction or take-up mechanisms, an inline tape impregnation system and curing radiation sources. The apparatus contains compaction and resistance rollers, both connected to a robotic arm. The apparatus is operative to place compacted fabric tapes on top of each other to form a desired composite material object while traveling in a predetermined path using the robotic arm. The tape placement and compaction is executed without using a mandrel or mold.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for the manufacture of a composite material object, comprising:
 providing a tape delivery device configured to deliver at least one fabric tape;   providing a pair of cooperating rollers with a nip between them, operative to accept a previously cured tape with a newly delivered tape, and join them to form a joint composite material tape;   supplying an impregnating system operative to impregnate by matrix material resin the newly delivered tape;   operating a source of curing radiation operative to cure the impregnated tape or the impregnated joint composite material tape; and   providing at least one robotic arm configured to move the pair of cooperating rollers, to obtain a nip movement, according to a desired object surface,   wherein the composite tape impregnation by the matrix material resin proceeds concurrently with the pair of rollers movement.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the movement of the robotic arm generates a new composite object surface by spreading a new composite material tape layer on the previous spread and cured composite material tape layer. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pair of cooperating rollers apply pressure to join the impregnated tape and the newly delivered tape to form a single composite material tape. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the composite object manufacturing uses at least partially overlapping impregnated composite material tapes with each successive tape spreading using the earlier spread tape as support. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein a thickness of a composite fabric tape is 0.1 mm to 1.50 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the fabric tape width is 2.0 mm to 25.0 mm. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curing source is a UV curing source operating a source of ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 240 to 420 nm to harden a composite matrix material resin of the at least composite material tape. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising employing a computer to control and coordinate the movement of the robotic arm. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a successive addition of composite material tapes forms a 3D object. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the composite matrix material resin includes a fast curing material such as UV curable acrylate or epoxy systems. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a funnel-type guide brings the impregnated tape and the newly delivered tape into physical proximity of 0.1 to 0.5 mm. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cooperating rollers are also configured to support their movement along their rotation axes. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cooperating rollers are also configured to support their movement in a direction perpendicular to their rotation axes. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein movement of the cooperating rollers changes the nip between them and the pressure the cooperating rollers apply to the inserted composite material tape in the nip. 
     
     
         15 . An apparatus for the manufacture of a composite material object, comprising:
 a tape delivery device configured to deliver at least one fabric tape;   a pair of cooperating rollers with a nip between them, operative to accept a previously cured tape with the newly delivered tape and join them to form a joint composite material tape or the newly delivered tape solely, the pair of cooperating rollers including a pressing roller and a reaction roller;   an impregnating system operative to impregnate by matrix material resin the newly delivered tape;   a source of curing radiation operative to cure the impregnated tape or the impregnated joint tape; and   a robotic arm configured to move the pressing roller, to obtain by the pressing roller and the reaction roller a nip movement, according to a predetermined object surface,   wherein the composite tape impregnation by the matrix material resin proceeds concurrently with the pair of cooperating rollers movement.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein pair of cooperating rollers are configured such that movement of the pair of cooperating rollers by the robotic arm generates a new composite object surface. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the tape delivery device with a plurality of fabric tapes is configured to deliver multiple tapes simultaneously. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising a compaction unit configured to accept and compact simultaneously several composite material tapes and to compact the tapes into a unified composite material tape. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the robotic arm is configured to move in at least two orthogonal directions. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein a successive addition of composite material tapes forms a 3D object. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein a wavelength of the source of UV curing radiation is 240 to 420 nm. 
     
     
         22 . A method for the manufacture of a composite material object, comprising:
 providing a tape delivery device configured to deliver at least one fabric tape;   providing a pair of cooperating rollers with a nip between them, operative to accept a previously cured tape with a newly delivered tape, and join them to form a joint composite material tape;   supplying an impregnating system operative to impregnate by matrix material resin the newly delivered tape; and   operating a source of curing radiation operative to cure the impregnated tape or the impregnated joint composite material tape,   wherein the cooperating rollers are configured to move towards and away from each other in a synchronous or asynchronous movement.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein movement of the cooperating rollers changes the nip between them and pressure the cooperating rollers apply to the inserted composite material tape in the nip. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the cooperating rollers are also configured to support their movement along their rotation axes and in a direction perpendicular to their rotation axes. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein movement of the cooperating rollers along their rotation axes and in a direction perpendicular to their rotation axes concurrently with the joint composite tape movement generates a composite object of a desired geometrical shape.